[ The touch is for all of it, and none of it, all the same. Dany is tactile, particularly with those for whom she feels affection. ]

Astapor is far-famed, [ she explains, ] for training the finest soldiers in all the world. I ... I did not know why.

[ Here she pauses. She wishes to flinch, and at last, she allows it of herself. ]

In the end I had no other choice. Buy them all, and I would bring with me a slave army across the sea. Sail away, as Ser Barristan counseled, and I would leave eight thousand behind. Eight thousand, the six centuries ... and the two thousand still in training as well.

[ She had slapped Ser Jorah upon her return to her ship that afternoon. Anger was better than weeping. That night, she had debated with herself for hours, and wept in private. ]

On the morrow, [ she continues, ] I returned with my wares. All of them. The silks, the amber beads, the furs, the spices and ... and Drogon. Drogon, most of all. The Good Masters lusted for dragons.

[ Here she releases Sieglinde's hand to sip at her wine, requiring it. She can still feel the fire rising up inside her when she remembers. ]

I marched out with all, [ she tells her. ] Drogon, and the people. They were soldiers still, yet now they were free men.

[ Whilst the plaza yet burned. ]